Creativity and advertising

Creativity is essential to any advertising or marketing campaign. Creating the “Big Idea” that sells and will resonate with your target audience is perhaps the most crucial, and elusive, part of any effective campaign. E3 Network agencies around the world offer the creativity in design, strategy, and campaigns planning that can help your brand stand out.

Are you using creativity to distinguish your brand?

While creativity is an essential element for any effective brand, the creative process can vary widely from company to company, and brand to brand. And what may be considered creative in one industry could be considered run-of-the-mill in another.

Yet one thing all successful creative advertising campaigns have in common, is they resonate with their target audience. They provide an emotive response.

E3 network agencies frequently share ideas and processes, and discuss the latest ways to continually improve and spark creativity among their teams. In fact, one of the benefits that the E3 network offers members is the opportunity to share and learn from the creativity of others.

Workshops and sessions that spark creativity are the core of many E3 network conferences. The processes for generating ideas and making connections are essential.Tips for generating creative ideas

How can you facilitate the creative process? Here are a few tips for fostering creativity used by E3 Network agencies.

Explore many options. List as many ideas or options as possible. In his book Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative Genius, Michael Michalko says “Fluency of thought means generating quantities of ideas.” Generating a lot of ideas will produce one that works. In this case, quantity can bring about quality.

Defer criticism. To get the creativity flowing, separate the creative step from the critical evaluation step. Consider all possible ideas without criticism. Brainstorm and open the door to all creative energy. Then go back and evaluate the ideas later.

Record your ideas. Keep a record of ideas and write them down as they occur. By writing ideas down, you won’t forget them and can come back to them again later. Consider using random input by seeking ideas from unusual places: read a children’s book or a map to see what new associations you might have to a topic.

Change perspective. Rewording a problem or looking at a situation from a different perspective can generate a lot of new ideas. Try looking at a problem from a different angle, such as “why do we need to solve this problem” or “what will happen if we don’t solve it?”

Engage your unconscious. How often have you heard someone say they thought of a great idea in the shower or in the middle of the night? When your unconscious is freed from active thought, it’s free to explore the creative side and come up with new ideas. Good ideas need time to incubate. Having trouble cracking a problem? Try turning off your mind and listening to music, meditating or enjoying nature.